China hearing gospel via Africa; church growing amid brutal persecution

Read story here.

As the Chinese economically invest in and build infrastructure in Africa, Africans are evangelizing the Chinese.

In 2014, trade between China and Africa reached an all-time high in 2014, according to the China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University and McKinsey & Company. Billions of dollars in loans from China to Africa in addition to foreign direct investment have increased significantly in recent years.

Meanwhile, as a result of the influx of Chinese resources and approximately 10,000 Chinese-owned companies, the estimated 227,000 to 1 million Chinese working on the continent are hearing the message of the Gospel from African evangelical Christians.

“Many local African churches have reached out to Chinese workers, including incorporating Mandarin into services. A number of Chinese, in turn, have welcomed the sense of community and belonging that these Christian churches offer,” according to UnHerd Wednesday.

“And a small but growing number of ethnically Chinese missionaries from Taiwan and other countries are specifically targeting Chinese nationals in Africa, preaching to them with a freedom they’d never be allowed in the People’s Republic.”

Scripture of the Day

John 21

19. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.
20. Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?
21. Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?
22. Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.
23. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?
24. This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true.
25. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written

Scripture of the Day

Psalm 49
To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah.
1. Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world:
2. Both low and high, rich and poor, together.
3. My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.
4. I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp.
5. Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?
6. They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;
7. None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:
8. (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:)
9. That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption.
10. For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.
11. Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names.
12. Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish.
13. This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah.
14. Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.
15. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah.
16. Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;
17. For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.
18. Though while he lived he blessed his soul: and men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself.
19. He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.
20. Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.

Scripture of the Day

Psalm 48
A Song and Psalm for the sons of Korah.
1. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.
2. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.
3. God is known in her palaces for a refuge.
4. For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together.
5. They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away.
6. Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail.
7. Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.
8. As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah.
9. We have thought of thy lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple.
10. According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness.
11. Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of thy judgments.
12. Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof.
13. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following.
14. For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.

Scripture of the Day

Psalm 46

To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth.
1. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
3. Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
4. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
5. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.
6. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.
7. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
8. Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth.
9. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.
10. Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
11. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

 ‘IN THE CLOSET OF THE VATICAN’ 

The book is a ‘startling account of corruption and hypocrisy at the heart of the Vatican’, according to British publisher Bloomsbury.

Read it here.

The Catholic Church is not Christian, it is Roman Catholic. The Christian Church we see in the Bible was started by Jesus Christ, while the Catholic Church is the creation of pagan political Rome that was designed to keep the empire alive. And in regards to that, it has been fantastically successful. Pagan Rome is alive and well, wrapped inside the wolfish veneer of the counterfeit church. To the world’s 1.5 billion Roman Catholics, please prayerfully consider the following verses as part of your invitation to be partakers in eternal life.

“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.” Revelation 18:4,5 (KJV)

The book ‘In The Closet Of The Vatican’ is going to be released on the exact same day that Pope Francis will be holding a summit on sexual abuse of children at the hands of Catholic priests and bishops. The Catholic Church is a snake pit, and the Vatican is the hold of every manner of vile and unclean spiritual devils. I pray that this book will be the necessary means of motivation to free many prisoners of the Catholic counterfeit.

Eighty percent of Vatican priests are gay according to explosive new book which claims to uncover double lives of homophobic priests who use male prostitutes

FROM THE DAILY MAIL UK: The 570-page expose, titled In the Closet of the Vatican, claims that four in five clerics in the Roman Catholic Church are homosexuals – but aren’t necessarily sexually active.

French sociologist and journalist Frederic Martel, who spent four years conducting 1,500 interviews for the book, found that some priests maintained discreet long term relationships, while others lived double lives having casual sex with gay partners and using male prostitutes.

He found that a number of clerics spoke of an unspoken code of the ‘closet’, with one rule of thumb being that the more homophobic they were, the more likely they were gay.

Scripture of the Day

John 12

3. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.
4. Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray him,
5. Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?
6. This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.
7. Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this.

Two-Year Anniversary of Pastor Koh’s Abduction in Malaysia

Learn more at http://www.OpenDoorsUSA.org/PrayerApp

As of today, no one has seen Pastor Raymond Koh in exactly two years. Twenty-four months ago, he disappeared as a result of a coordinated abduction carried out in broad daylight. Sadly, Pastor Koh remains missing to this day and there are still more questions than answers.

Remarkably, in the midst of the pain of grief, good things are still happening. Last night about 100 people attended a gathering held to remember and pray for Pastor Koh. Those gathered also prayed for the missing Christian convert Pastor Joshua Hilmy and his wife, Ruth, as well as Amri Che Mat—a Shia Muslim who disappeared in circumstances similar to what happened to Koh.

The group consisted of church members and leaders from across the denominations. “It is a miracle that one family’s life has united all of us,” said a participant.

Even in the midst of her sorrows, Susanna—Pastor Koh’s wife—is able to see how God has been at work since her husband disappeared. She shared that churches in Malaysia have come together to say that these disappearances are not acceptable. “This is the first time we see the evangelicals and the Roman Catholics come together. They hold hands and pray. And I know that God is pleased with this.”

Please pray for strength for Susanna as she continues to wait for justice for her husband.

Pray the memorandum submitted to the Prime Mahathir Bin Mohamadtoday will find favor with him and that he will seek to resolve these disappearances.

Pray that the unity that has been sparked by these disappearances will continue to grow.

*Representative names and photos are sometimes used to protect identity.

Photo: Facebook/Everybody Loves Raymond Koh

Scripture of the Day

Jeremiah 18
7. At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;
8. If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.
9. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;
10. If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.
11. Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.
12. And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.

Is the LORD unjust when He judges peoples and nations? I think not, if they repent of their evil & wickedness He spares them from the judgment prepared for them.

Yet mankind in all their glorious ignorance continually rejects the GOD who created them saying “…
There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart. ...”

Fire Destroys Election Office in Nigeria

Learn more at http://www.OpenDoorsUSA.org/PrayerApp

In regions where Christians are persecuted, elections can be important. Depending on who is elected, a vote could potentially increase the threat to believers in the region. In other situations, elections could increase protections for minority groups. And, sometimes, elections sometimes offer little change at all.

We are sad to report, then, that Nigeria—which is 12thon the Open Doors 2019 World Watch List—is facing several challenges related to their coming elections. Just days before Nigerianshead to the poles to votein presidential elections, an election office in Qua’an Pan has been burned to the ground. The BBC reports that fire destroyed everything needed to vote, including ballot boxes and voting slips. A spokesperson called it a setback in preparing for the elections.

In the coming vote, President Buhari’s All Progressives Congress is expected to suffer loss in the Middle Belt region due to its failure to deal with communal violence there. The president, who is seeking re-election, has already warned about internal conflict over the elections, telling The Pulse, “The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has raised concerns over laundered money being funneled into vote buying.”

Please pray for peaceful, free and fair elections.

Pray for the Lord’s protection over His children. Pray that they will vote in large numbers this Saturday and vote wisely. Pray for their safety as they vote.

Pray that the Lord will put in power a president that respects human rights and can bring much needed stability in Nigeria.

Pray that the Church will be a faithful witness for Christ during the elections.

*Representative names and photos are sometimes used to protect identity.

Photo: INEC

Pray for Family of Pastor Murdered in Colombia

Learn more at http://www.OpenDoorsUSA.org/PrayerApp

Open Doors has learned that a 24-year-old pastor and youth leader has been murdered in Colombia.

On Saturday evening (February 9, 2019), Pastor Leider Molina, 24, was murdered as he was leaving the church where he had just preached a message in the rural community in Caucasia (the country’s northwestern region). He was shot five times.

Known for his passion for preaching the Word of God, the young pastor was a youth leader known for actively serving his community and church. The region where he was killed is also home to Pastor Galarza who was murdered in front of his family last September 2018.

Both pastors murdered in Colombia were known for their commitment to actively work for the betterment of their communities and to not succumb to the threats of criminal groups.

Over the last four months, the Caucasia area has suffered record-high violence, due to the presence of armed groups that dispute the control of drug trafficking routes and the ownership of illicit crops. These groups see the Christian church as an enemy to be eradicated.

Please pray with the family and church of Pastor Molina (he had no wife or children) and the widow and children of Pastor Galarza.

Pray with the church in the Caucasia area and throughout Colombia as they face this ongoing violence. Pray for protection and boldness as they continue to stay in the area and be a light in increasing darkness.

Pray with Open Doors children’s centers in Colombia that minister to young people who have been rescued from paramilitary and criminal groups; or are children of Christians leaders whose families are often targeted.

*Representative names and photos are sometimes used to protect identity.

Scripture of the Day

Psalm 43
1. Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.
2. For thou art the God of my strength: why dost thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
3. O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.
4. Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God.
5. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

Scripture of the Day

Jeremiah 11

14. Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble.
15. What hath my beloved to do in mine house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many, and the holy flesh is passed from thee? when thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest.

The Fathers forgiveness & patience are beyond our comprehension, yet the LORD has His limitatons. Israel/Judah reached that limit.

Intercessory prayer is important but it can have a limited affect if GOD’s judgment is going to fall on a nation.

Scripture of the Day

Psalm 41
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.
1. Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.
2. The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies.
3. The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.
4. I said, LORD, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.
5. Mine enemies speak evil of me, When shall he die, and his name perish?
6. And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity: his heart gathereth iniquity to itself; when he goeth abroad, he telleth it.
7. All that hate me whisper together against me: against me do they devise my hurt.
8. An evil disease, say they, cleaveth fast unto him: and now that he lieth he shall rise up no more.
9. Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.
10. But thou, O LORD, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them.
11. By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me.
12. And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever.
13. Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen.

Scripture of the Day

Psalm 40
4. Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
5. Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.
6. Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.